


Twin of Myself

by ThisisVenereVeritas



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Drabble, F/M, Pre-Fall of Overwatch
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-12
Updated: 2016-12-12
Packaged: 2018-09-08 00:47:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 678
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8823316
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThisisVenereVeritas/pseuds/ThisisVenereVeritas
Summary: They are two halves of a whole, more alike than some are capable of recognizing. 
Luckily they know.





	

One night Gabriel walks into the medical bay, and following him is the stench of death. Fresh from recent Blackwatch related work, he carries with him the souls of the men he’s slain, heavy reminders that were dark coppery scented stains on his pants, and browning speckles that he missed when he hurriedly washed his face before entering.

From afar, Angela watches a registered nurse scrunch her nose as Gabriel silently approaches her. Her fellow interns peer through the curtains, watching this dark peculiar man who stands out so painfully against the starch white tiles, politely ask if Miss Ziegler is done with her scheduled shift, and make faces.

“Did he not have time to shower?” someone asks, taking a break from her computer work in order to roll her eyes.

“Does he think smelling like blood makes him look cool?”

“Maybe he’s overcompensating,” another suggests before realizing Angela was in the curtained room neighboring hers, and then quickly shuts herself up.

Angela recedes back into her small, poorly cloistered room. She checks the monitor by the bed and recalls lectures detailing surgeries gone bad, lost causes, the deadly morphine drip and the assisted suicide, and it makes her wonder how such lectures haven’t yet sank into her peers.

“Angela.” The nurse from before pulls the curtains aside to call her attention. “Guess who’s here to see you?”

Without looking, Angela replies, “Give me a second.”

Angela checks on her patient, a girl not quite yet six, sleeping under several layers of thin, bleach white blankets. She runs her hand through the girl’s thinning hair, and rests her stare on the darkening circles surrounding the girl’s eyes, the paleness of her lips and the bright yellow band on her tiny wrists that would one day force Angela’s hands away from resuscitation.  

Everything was as good as it could possibly be, for now.

Feeling heavy, she leaves the shared room and finds Gabriel waiting for her at the front desk, still managing to bring attention to himself with his mere existence. A doctor and older nurse walk by and smile at him, and Angela regrets that none of her classmates are around to witness it.

She meets up with him right as he starts to register the holier than thou spirit accumulating on the floor, and Angela tears his attention away from hospital by pulling his hands away from the shelter of his pocket.

“Hello there,” she says, feeling his hand surround hers.

“Hey,” Gabriel greets her cautiously.

She smiles at him, and it coaxes him to follow suit. “You’re back. I’m glad you’re safe.”  

He pushes the front of his foot against the the floor, and then looks away to hide his smile. A terrible display at pretending not to be bashful. “Yeah,” he says.

The ice breaks and melts away, and the couple engage in friendly, brief conversation. Angela captures glimpses of curious stares behind Gabriel, and privately invites them to continue. Perhaps one day they’ll cease to focus on the dark cloud above Gabriel, and begin to notice the souls they’ll one day carry on their shoulders, or already do, and realize how alike they all were. That just because they can change their gloves with every new case doesn’t make them any better than him.

Angela checks the time and lets Gabriel know she’ll visit him in an hour. At ease, Gabriel dips closer, embracing her after nearly two weeks of daunting, taxing work. Angela knows it, has been there herself. Together, they hold each other, Gabriel starting to sniffle and Angela wrinkling her nose when the other’s work starts to finally hit them.

“Go shower, you smell,” she says right as he lets her go. It’s a tease.

“You’re one to talk,” he replies after a husky chuckle.

The weight on their shoulders lifts away. Angela waves goodbye as Gabriel leaves the floor silently as he had been when he arrived, blissfully unaware of those wandering eyes that fall on her or her disappearing other half who’s not any better, any worse than her.


End file.
